I am currently plugging away through the Hellboy universe. I buy one Hellboy and BPRD volume every time I go to the comic shop (just finished volume 7 of both). It is real tough for me to choose which I like better. BPRD is better in total but there are some single issue of Hellboy that blow me away. Either way, I am still waiting for more Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder.

The English Major:I haven't seen the films and it's been a few years since I read the comics. Are the movies worth it?

Decent. I was really disappointed when I saw the first one in theaters (I thought it was going to be the best movie ever) but I watched it again earlier this year and it wasnt as bad as I remember. The second one was fun.

The English Major:I haven't seen the films and it's been a few years since I read the comics. Are the movies worth it?

Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro. Do the math.

The thing about del Toro is that he gets the comics. He LIKES the comics. He likes the universe, and he likes the characters. He gets the darkness, and the light heartedness that Mignola brings the series, and he doesn't accommodate it grudgingly, or play it up for simple camp, but enjoys it for what it is.

Appealing strictly to 10-year-olds is a pretty decent quality to possess for an artist whose job is drawing super heroes in comic books. In fact, that's pretty much what you're going to want to go for.

Appealing strictly to 10-year-olds is a pretty decent quality to possess for an artist whose job is drawing super heroes in comic books. In fact, that's pretty much what you're going to want to go for.

Maybe decades ago when Liefeld was just starting out, but now the cost barrier is to high for most young kids to read comics regularly.

hubiestubert:The English Major: I haven't seen the films and it's been a few years since I read the comics. Are the movies worth it?

Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro. Do the math.

The thing about del Toro is that he gets the comics. He LIKES the comics. He likes the universe, and he likes the characters. He gets the darkness, and the light heartedness that Mignola brings the series, and he doesn't accommodate it grudgingly, or play it up for simple camp, but enjoys it for what it is.

Perhaps the most illustrative example of this is the scene in the first movie where Hellboy notices one of the cthulu-esque baddies menacing a box full of kittens during a brawl in the subway. Other films might have played up the camp factor of that, but del Toro handled it perfectly: there was no huge "OH MY GOD NOT THE KITTENS" moment, it was more like "right, you're evil enough to hate kittens, so I am going to continue to pummel the crap out of you AND save the kittens, because that's how I roll." It was less camp and more believable, inasmuch as the concept of Hellboy is believable.

The English Major:I haven't seen the films and it's been a few years since I read the comics. Are the movies worth it?

It's like this. If you're someone who would enjoy that Del Toro got the spirit and the character personalities mostly right you'll enjoy them well enough. If you're someone who freaks out because "OMG that wasn't the exact character like in the comics and they didn't meet that way in the comics!" you'll watch them, and likely secretly enjoy them, but feel the need to bash it any chance you'll get.

Personally I liked them, even though I didn't get into the comics until after the first movie.